Patty Pravo from 1976

Patty Pavro:

Real Name: Nicoletta Strambelli

Profile: Italian singer born 9 April 1948 in Venice, Italy.

Diva, counted since the sixties as one of the greatest interpreters of Italian music, boasts a chameleon-like career that has seen her go through various musical styles, continually reinventing her image: from idol beat to sophisticated interpreter of Italian and French songwriters, then experimenter of rock in its various forms. The album "Biafra" (1976) brought unknown genres to Italy such as the Funk and the new wave. Successes like La bambola (1968), Pazza idea (1973), Pensiero stupendo (1978) and ... E dimmi che non vuoi morire (1997) have marked the history of European pop.

The contrast between the peculiar low and sensual timbre and the filiform beauty, the imperious force of the personality, the provocations and the excesses have made her an icon of elegance and transgression, which has contributed to the evolution of the costume by distorting every canon linked to the figure of the female interpreter in Italy.

I am not so sure there is much for the prog rock fan to cling to here, as her output seems to me to be mostly basic singer songwriter stuff.  Perhaps the 1976 album is the most proggy, consider Sconosciuti Cieli:

Note the highly emotional songwriting, with the 'trappings' of a prog basis, eg synths + allied instrumentation, etc. but lacking a bit of the complexity.